Mop

ABSTRACT

A mop includes a handle and a sleeve member which caps one end portion of the handle. A mophead includes a holder member for mopping material and the holder member is provided with a recess so dimensioned as to accommodate the sleeve member therein. Friction-promoting projections are provided on the exterior of the sleeve member or in the interior of the recess so as to establish a releasable frictional connection between the sleeve member and the holder member when the former is inserted into the recess of the latter. Rotation-preventing means is provided for preventing relative rotation of the members when the mop is in use.

United States Patent Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin AssistantExqmir'zer George H. Krizmanich Attorney-Michael S. Striker ABSTRACT: Amop includes a handle and a sleeve member which caps one end portion ofthe handle. A mophead includes a holder member for mopping material andthe holder member is provided with a recess so dimensioned as toaccommodate the sleeve member therein. Friction-promoting projectionsare provided on the exterior of the sleeve member or in the interior ofthe recess so as to establish a releasable frictional connection betweenthe sleeve member and the holder member when the former is inserted intothe recess of the latter. Rotation-preventing means is provided forpreventing relative rotation of the members when the mop is in use.

PATENIEU AUEBI I971 3.601.886

INVENTOR TuA/u Gun/nu;

ORNEY MOP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesgenerally to cleaning implements, and more particularly to a mop.

Mops of many types and descriptions are well known. They are allsatisfactory in some respects and unsatisfactory in others. They all,however, have one feature in common: namely the fact that the mop handlegenerally outlasts the mophead-which latter may consist of string,strips of synthetic plastic foam material, or the like-must beperiodically replaced. This, on the other hand, necessitates that themophead be releasably connected with the handle.

It is in this respect that prior-art mops are generally mostdisadvantageous. The connection between the mop handle and the mopheadshould on the one hand be firm and not subject to accidental orundesired separation while, on the other hand, it should be readilyseparable when necessary. Conventionally such connection is effected byproviding the holder which constitutes a part of the mophead and onwhich the mopping material is secured, with an internally threadedrecess whereas the end portion of the mop handle is exteriorly threadedand the two threads are brought into mesh. With this type of connection,it is a common complaint, however, that because of the frictionalresistance encountered by the mop in use, particularly if a wet mop isconcerned, the connection will soon loosen because of the rotationalforces acting upon the mophead in use, so that the connection must beconstantly retightened to prevent the mophead from becoming separatedfrom the mop handle.

A further problem exists in the manner in which the mopping material isconnected with the holder of the mophead. This connection shouldadvantageously be very simple, not only to facilitate assembly of themopping material with holder during the manufacture of the mop, but alsoto provide later on the possibility of replacing only the moppingmaterial while retaining the holder, this type of replacement beingobviously less expensive than if both the mopping material and theholder must be replaced simultaneously for which there is usually noneed because the holder generally will outlast the mopping material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a general object of the presentinvention to provide a novel mop having the aforementioned desirablefeatures.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a mopwherein the mophead may be readily and conveniently releasably connectedwith the mop handle.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a mop wherein themopping material may be readily and releasably but yet firmly connectedwith the holder constituting a part of the mophead.

A concomitant object of the present invention is to provide a mop havinga releasable connection between the mophead and the mop handle whichnevertheless reliably prevents turning movement of one with reference tothe other in use of the mop.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide such a mopwhich is inexpensive to manufacture and very simple to assemble.

In pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparenthereafter, one feature of my invention resides in the provision of a mopincluding a handle and a sleeve member which caps one end portion of thehandle. A mophead is provided which includes mopping material such asstrings, ropes. threads, strips or the like of suitable material, and aholder member for the mopping material, and in accordance with theinvention the member is provided with a recess so dimensioned as toaccommodate the sleeve member therein. Friction-promoting means isprovided on at least one of the members whereby to establish areleasable frictional connection of the sleeve member with the holdermember in response to introduction of the former into the recess of thelatter. Finally I provide rotation-preventing means which is alsopresent on at least one of the members for preventing relative rotationof the members when the mop is in use.

Advantageously one or both of my sleeve member and holder member consistof synthetic plastic material, among which I wish to mentionpolyethylene and polypropolene as two exemplary suitable materials.

The friction-promoting means may be provided on the external surface ofthe sleeve member, and the internal surface bounding the recess in theholder member, or on both surfaces and may take the form of projections,preferably ribs or ridges extending in longitudinal direction of therecess.

As far as my rotation-preventing means is concerned, this may also beprovided in the form of projecting portions or the like. The perhapssimplest solution is to make the cross-sectional configuration of theexterior of the sleeve member and the interior of the recess of theholder member of other-thaw circular outline, for example of polygonaloutline, which necessarily precludes rotation of one member withreference to the other when the sleeve member is received in the recessof the holder member.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an axial section of a mopaccording to my invention, with the handle being shown fragmentarily;

FIG. 2 is a view in direction of the arrows II--II in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line III-III of FIG. 1 as seen in thedirection of the arrows associated with the sectioned line.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the illustratedembodiment in more detail it will be seen that I provide a conventionalmop handle 1 which will usually consist of wood but which may alsoconsist of metallic material, for instance aluminum for the sake oflight weight, or a synthetic plastic material. A sleeve member 2 capsone end portion of the handle 1, that is the sleeve member 2 is providedwith a bore or hollow in which the end portion of the handle 1 isreceived as illustrated. Any suitable means may be employed for rigidlyconnecting the sleeve member 2 with the end portion of the handle 1, forinstance one or more nails, screws or the like may be driven through thewall of the sleeve member 2 into the end portion of the handle 1, andadhesive connection may be effected, or another suitable expedient maybe employed.

In the illustrated embodiment the outer cross-sectional configuration ofthe sleeve member 2 is polygonal, as clearly shown in FIG. 3.

I further provide a mophead including mopping material 10 and a holdermember 3 holding the mopping material arranged to be connected with thesleeve member 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the holder member 3 includes afirst body portions 3a and a second body portion 3b which will usuallybe integral with one another, that is be made of one piece with oneanother. I prefer to make the members 2 and 3 from synthetic plasticmaterial in which case they may be injection molded or manufactured inanother suitable manner. The portion 3a of the member 3 is provided witha recess 4 having, as most clearly visible in FIG. 3, an interiorcross-sectional configuration which is polygonal and corresponds to theexterior crosssectional configuration of the member 2 which latter isthus readily accommodated in the recess 4 because the same isdimensioned accordingly.

Friction-promoting means is provided on at least one of the members 2and 3, and is here illustrated as a plurality of raised ridges 4aprovided on the inner circumferential surface bounding the recess 4' andextending axially of the latter. On introduction of the sleeve member 2into the recess 4, frictional contact with the ridges 4a maintains thesleeve member 2 tightly but yet readily releasably positioned within therecess 4. Advantageously, although not necessarily, I will border theinlet opening of the recess 4 with guide faces 4b converging indirection inwardly into the recess 4 and serving to more readilyintroduce the sleeve member 2 into the recess 4.

In this embodiment the rotation-preventing means is provided by makingthe outer cross section of sleeve 2, and the inner cross section ofrecess 4, polygonal as shown in FIG. 3. The portion 3b, on the otherhand, is also provided with a depression 5 having an open side facingaway from the recess 4, as illustrated in FIG. 1. A plurality ofcircumferentially spaced mounting or retaining projections 7 which maybe solid or tubular in form, project from the bottom wall 6 bounding therecess 5 towards the open side of the latter. A plate member 8, whichmay consist of metallic material, but could also be made of anothermaterial such as a synthetic plastic, is provided with a plurality ofapertures 9 therein which correspond in number and arrangement tothe-number and arrangement of the retaining projections 7. The apertures9 are so dimensioned that when one of the retaining projections 7 isintroduced thereinto, it will be tightly retained so that, when theplate member 8 is introduced through the open side of the recess 5 sothat all of the retaining projections 7 can enter into the respectivelyassociated apertures 9, the plate member 8 will be tightly but yetreleasably retained in the recess 5. Connection of the mopping material,here illustrated as threads, strings or he like, is effected by havingportions of the mopping material extend into the recess 5 and be clampedbetween the plate member 8 and the bottom wall 6 bounding the recess 5.It will be noted that the outer diameter of the plate member 8 issomewhat smaller than the inner diameter of the recess 5 so that anannular gap exists between the edge of theplate member 8 and the innersurface bounding the recess 5, through which gap the major portions ofthe mopping material 10 extend outwardly of the recess 5, as somewhatdiagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1.

- Finally, I may provide reinforcing means for reinforcing the wall ofthe portion 3a at least in the region of the inlet opening to therecess4. In the illustrated embodiment I have shown this in FIG. 1 in the formof an annulus 11 of metallic material which is embedded in the wall ofthe portion 3a of the holder member 3 adjacent the inlet opening to therecess 4. Thisv prevents yielding of the material of the member 3, whichmay be a problem if certain types of plastic material are used formaking the member 3 and which could occur in use of the mop, thuspermitting the member 3 to become undesirably separated from the member2. It will be appreciated that the annulus 11 will be embedded at thetime of manufacture of the member 3, but that it could also conceivablybe added at a later date in which case it would have to be of such typeas to either surround the portion. 3a externally thereof, or to belocated in a recess provided in either the inner or outercircumferential face of the portion 3a.

. It will be understood that each of the elements described above, ortwo or more together, may also find a useful application in other typesof constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in amop, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, sincevarious modifications and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended:

1. A mop, comprising in combination, a handle having an end portion; asleeve member capping said end portion of said handle and having apolygonal outer cross-sectional configuration; a mophead including moping material and a holder member for said mopping materia said holdermember being provided with a recess of polygonal cross-sectionalinterior configuration and which accommodates said sleeve member thereinso as to prevent relative rotation of said members when said mop is inuse; and friction-promoting means provided on at least one of saidmembers whereby to establish a releasable frictional connection of saidsleeve member with said holder member in response to introduction of theformer into said recess of the latter.

2. A mop as defined in claim 1, wherein said sleeve member and saidholder member both consist at least in part of synthetic plasticmaterial.

3. A mop as defined in claim 1, said recess being bounded by an innercircumferential surface; and wherein said frictionpromoting meanscomprises a plurality of projections provided on said surface extendinginto said recess and frictionally engaging said sleeve member onintroduction of the latter with said recess.

4. A mop as defined in claim 3, said projections comprising a pluralityof circumferentially spaced elongated ribs.

5. A mop as defined in claim 1, said recess having an inlet opening forinsertion of said sleeve member therein; and further comprising aplurality of guide surfaces provided at said opening bounding the sameand converging in direction into said recess so as to guide said sleevemember into the same.

6. A mop as defined in claim 1, said recess having an inlet opening andat least said holder member being made of synthetic plastic material;and further comprising metallic reinforcing means embedded in saidsynthetic plastic material of said reinforcing member and surroundingsaid inlet opening of said recess.

7. A mop as defined in claim 1, said holder member including a firstbody portion provided with said recess and a second body portionprovided with a depression in which said mopping material is partlyreceived; and said mophead further including mounting means mountingsaid mopping material in said depression and connecting the moppingmaterial with said holder member.

8. A mop as defined in claim 7, said depression having an open side anda bottom wall; and further comprising a plurality of angularly spacedretaining projections extending from said bottom wall toward said openside, and a plate member provided with a corresponding plurality ofapertures each accommodating frictionally one of said retainingprojections whereby portions of said mopping material located in saiddepression are tightly clamped between said plate member and said secondbody portion of said holder member.

' 9. A mop as defined in claim 8, wherein said plate member consists ofmetallic material.

1. A mop, comprising in combination, a handle having an end portion; asleeve member capping said end portion of said handle and having apolygonal outer cross-sectional configuration; a mophead includingmopping material and a holder member for said mopping material, saidholder member being provided with a recess of polygonal cross-sectionalinterior configuration and which accommodates said sleeve member thereinso as to prevent relative rotation of said members when said mop is inuse; and frictionpromoting means provided on at least one of saidmembers whereby to establish a releasable frictional connection of saidsleeve member with said holder member in response to introduction of theformer into said recess of the latter.
 2. A mop as defined in claim 1,wherein said sleeve member and said holder member both consist at leastin part of synthetic plastic material.
 3. A mop as defined in claim 1,said recess being bounded by an inner circumferential surface; andwherein said friction-promoting means comprises a plurality ofprojections provided on said surface extending into said recess andfrictionally engaging said sleeve member on introduction of the latterwith said recess.
 4. A mop as defined in claim 3, said projectionscomprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced elongated ribs.
 5. Amop as defined in claim 1, said recess having an inlet opening forinsertion of said sleeve member therein; and further comprising aplurality of guide surfaces provided at said opening bounding the sameand converging in direction into said recess so as to guide said sleevemember into the same.
 6. A mop as defined in claim 1, said recess havingan inlet opening and at least said holder member being made of syntheticplastic material; and further comprising metallic reinforcing meansembedded in said synthetic plastic material of said reinforcing memberand surrounding said inlet opening of said recess.
 7. A mop as definedin claim 1, said holder member including a first body portion providedwith said recess and a second body portion provided with a depression inwhich said mopping material is partly received; and said mophead furtherincluding mounting means mounting said mopping material in saiddepression and connecting the mopping material with said holder member.8. A mop as defined in claim 7, said depression having an open side anda bottom wall; and further comprising a plurality of angularly spacedretaining projections extending from said bottom wall toward said openside, and a plate member provided with a corresponding plurality ofapertures each accommodating frictionally one of said retainingprojections whereby portions of said mopping material located in saiddepression are tightly clamped between sAid plate member and said secondbody portion of said holder member.
 9. A mop as defined in claim 8,wherein said plate member consists of metallic material.